Contract Formation

Fisher Maritime prepares drafts of contracts, specifications, and complete bid packages for new construction, conversion, overhaul, or repair. We also provide a quality assurance review of already-drafted contracts and specifications.

Contract work has included new construction for a variety of vessels such as 400' ferries, 220' offshore supply vessels, anchor handling tugs, and well test vessels, among others.

Sample Cases

VESSEL CONST. AGREEMENT

For an American ship owner, Fisher Maritime drafted the Agreement for the construction and purchase of a new dive support vessel to be built in Europe. During negotiations, the selected contractor suggested numerous alterations to the draft Agreement, each of which Fisher Maritime reviewed for consistency with, and impact on, the rest of the Agreement. Fisher Maritime found many inconsistencies and ambiguities between various parts of the overall document created by the many suggested, piecemeal revisions.

A presentation was made to the two parties to show why and how the inconsistencies and ambiguities could be equitably eliminated. The final contract containing Fisher Maritime's solutions was accepted by both parties, and provided the basis for a successful completion of the project with no disputes or delays.

‘TIGHTENED’ CONTRACT LOWERS COSTS

A research institution was going to have a large oceanographic vessel modified at a cost of about $3M. Fisher Maritime was commissioned by the institution to draft the contract for those modifications, including revisions to the draft specifications.

An essential aspect of the development was to make the contract package unambiguous from the outset, to clearly define the post-award design and engineering obligations of the contractor, and to ensure that the contract included ample mechanisms to keep the work progressing even if potential disputes arose. Upon completion of the drafting of the contract, the shipyard with whom the institution was negotiating complained that the contract was very tight, but it nevertheless agreed to it. The institution thought that the contract, being different from others they have used, resulted in a higher initial cost.

However, after the work was completed, our client reported that, because of the contract language and Fisher Maritime's "tightening" of the specifications, there was no growth work - a great surprise to the vessel owner. This resulted in lower-than-expected final costs.